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An underground home in Las Vegas sat on the market for five years, priced as high as $18 million.
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A nonprofit owns the bunker, which has five bedrooms and a fake town over 15,000 square feet.
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The nonprofit is applying to change the bunker’s zoning and turn it into a tourist attraction.
A habitable bunker 26 feet below the ground in Las Vegas was on the market for five years and had its price slashed 67% — but landed no buyer.
The owners, a nonprofit called the Stasis Foundation that backs cryogenics research, originally listed the underground house for $18 million in 2019. Its price dropped several times to a low of $5.9 million.
Earlier this year, the foundation took it off the market and decided to take a different approach: show the bunker off to the world.
The property itself doesn’t look out of the ordinary at first. From the street, passersby see a modest two-story home on a corner lot just three miles from the Las Vegas Strip.
Once visitors venture downstairs, it’s a different story. The underground house, also dubbed the Las Vegas Underground Mansion, is a 15,000-square-foot home with five bedrooms, six bathrooms, and a fake town that mirrors the world above.
The Stasis Foundation — whose research park is in Comfort, Texas, but files taxes from Fort Lauderdale, Florida — bought the Las Vegas property in 2014 for $1.15 million.
According to nonprofit directory Kendall County Giving Connections, the Stasis Foundation is a charitable organization that supports healthcare and biomedical research related to the preservation of cells and tissue using cooling systems “for transplantation, infertility treatments, anti-aging and life extension.”
The foundation took the home off the market earlier this year in order to apply to change its zoning from residential to mixed-use, which will allow it to turn the bunker into a tourist attraction.
The bunker was originally built in 1978 by Jerry Henderson, a businessman and director of cosmetics company Avon Products, who lived there with his wife, Mary.
“It was their luxury mansion to live in for safety, security, quiet, peace, all of those kinds of features,” said Frankie Lewis, who the Stasis Foundation has tapped as the director of events and business development for the underground house.
The property is still registered as a residential property. According to Dean Barry, executive director of the Stasis Foundation, once the zoning is changed, it can offer in-person tours.
Details, including pricing for the tours, are still in the works, Lewis added.
Take a look inside.
The property was built in 1978 for Jerry Henderson and his wife Mary as their permanent residence.
The home in Las Vegas wasn’t Henderson’s only underground property.
In addition to working at Avon, Henderson owned the company Underground World Homes, and the Las Vegas home was his third underground project, according to Lewis.
Above ground is a small guesthouse where Barry said a security guard currently lives. But there’s far more to the property than meets the eye.
According to Barry, part of the motivation for making the property mixed-use is because there is a one-bedroom apartment in the guesthouse where the security guard and maintenance employee lives.
The main level of the guesthouse would be used as a welcome center for guests.
A staircase on the home’s lower level leads 26 feet underground to a five-bedroom, six-bathroom bunker with a swimming pool.
The underground house is dripping in 1970s nostalgia. The original builder used rocks from Henderson’s home in Colorado on the faux facade.
While you’d be hard-pressed to confuse the bunker’s “outdoors” for the actual outdoors, it does offer the ability to change the lights from day to night settings.
Inside, the home is filled with 1970s furniture.
The home went into foreclosure in 2014 and sold for $1.15 million the same year.
The original buyer was listed as the Society for the Preservation of Near Extinct Species, but ownership was changed to the Stasis Foundation in 2020, according to Clark County property records.
The property was once used as a “personal luxury bunker” for its owners, who occasionally visit for work or vacation, Stephan LaForge, the former listing agent when it was on the market from 2019 to February 2024, told BI in 2023.
Soon, it’ll be shown to visitors for tours.
It’s also been used for music video and film shoots.
According to the underground house’s website, which Lewis runs, it’s been featured in an Imagine Dragons music video, a short film for the fashion brand Miu Miu, and others.
In addition to new air conditioning, water heater, and water lines, the bunker is fully outfitted with Wi-Fi and cellphone reception.
As a private residence, it’s been used to host many events.
Maybe more than any other room in the house, the kitchen screams of the 1970s.
The underground house has hosted private parties, political fundraisers, nonprofit fundraisers, birthday parties, anniversaries, and corporate events for up to 200 people, according to Lewis.
Each of the bunker’s five bedrooms has its own character.
There’s also a suite downstairs used by event staff to help manage special projects and events, according to Lewis.
Ceilings and room layouts could make someone inside forget they were underground.
One of the more elaborate bathrooms has a tub surrounded by mirrors.
One of the bedrooms even opens to the “outdoor” area.
The “outdoor” area has a swimming pool, a fountain, and plenty of seating ringed by murals.
Green carpeting and steel beams disguised as palm trees add to the outdoor scene.
According to the listing from when it was for sale, the home has 500 feet of floor-to-ceiling murals.
The murals depict scenes from other places where the original owners lived.
Currently, a historical tour is being developed to show off the bunker.
Read the original article on Business Insider
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